[AJD] THT (part 2

[Robert L. Holtzer]

Sounded like a fun time, Karl!

Bob Holtzer

At 07:31 PM 12/29/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>On Monday, I honed the cylinders while John and his assistant started 
>putting the BO engine back together.  Unfortunately, the cylinders were 
>much worse than we expected.  Lots of fairly deep rust pits.  They really 
>need reboring.  That was beyond the scope of a weekend rebuild; I'll have 
>to take care of that later.  I managed to get a couple of the new rings on 
>one piston, but finally asked John for help.  He finished the job in about 
>five minutes.  I was reluctant to spread the rings far enough for fear of 
>breaking them.  John had the right touch.  And strong enough fingers to 
>spread those big rings.
>
>Bob Currie showed up in the afternoon.  He got a lesson from John in 
>adjusting the bevel gears that drive the fan shaft.  I was busy adjusting 
>shims, but got some of the lecture.  The fan shaft must be loose in order 
>to do this.  One set of governor housing gaskets adjusts bevel gear mesh; 
>another set adjusts position of one gear on the other.  At the fat part of 
>the gears, the teeth should wind up even with each other; one gear 
>shouldn't have a portion that doesn't mesh with the other gear.  Bob's a 
>fun guy to have around.
>
>I installed the engine block and then we bolted in the main bearing 
>retainers.  I checked out the crankshaft with a vernier caliper, and was 
>surprised to find that all the bearing journals were well within original 
>spec and still round.  We tried removing one shim from each bearing 
>retainer, but then the crankshaft wouldn't turn, so we put back all the 
>original shims.  Bearings and crank journals all looked fine.  Then we got 
>to the rods.  I spent hours fiddling with rod caps and shims.  Dropped the 
>rod bolts into the crankcase once.  Dropped the nuts into the crankcase 
>several times.  Dropped an entire pack of shims once.  Thin shims are 
>0.005" thick.  Eventually I got to the point where inserting a shim left 
>the rod a little sloppy, removing it made the rod too tight.  So we left 
>both sides a bit loose.  I'm new to this kind of work; on a Farmall 
>engine, 0.005" is the difference between a new engine and one that is 
>completely worn out.  I ended up removing one shim from each rod 
>bearing.  You must never, ever make the bearings too tight; that'll burn 
>them up.
>
>Then there were the oil lines.  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate 
>connecting short, stiff copper lines inside a crankcase where you can't 
>see them?  Especially the one running up to the governor.  About two hours 
>on that one.  We finally removed the governor (which I had bolted into 
>place earlier) and got that fitting started.  Then John put the governor 
>back in place and somehow got the fitting on the other end of the oil line 
>started. I understand that JD did eventually figure out how to cast oil 
>lines in the block and cylinder head.... in 1960.
>
>We got the cylinder head and rocker arms installed about 7 pm Monday 
>evening, dumped in a bunch of oil and tried hand starting the BO.  Not 
>even a pop.  I was tired, so we quit "early".
>
>Tuesday morning, we rearranged the shop so that John could use a friend's 
>H to drive a belt and spin the BO's engine.  Driven by the belt, the BO 
>started popping almost instantly.  But then it dumped a good share of its 
>nice clean oil on the floor of the shed.  Seems that the oil filter 
>housing bolt was a little bent.  John straightened the bolt, and the 
>housing sealed on the second try.
>
>We started the engine using the belt again, and got it running fairly 
>well. It still favors one cylinder and misses a lot on the 
>second.  Probably bad plugs, plug wires, or dirty magneto.  But I can work 
>that out later.  It was starting to rain, so I sealed up the intake and 
>exhaust pipes and got ready to load the BO on my trailer.  The fenders, 
>fuel tank and air cleaner went in the back of my truck.
>
>I hated to make the 400 mile return trip with only one tractor, so I 
>bought a '39 H from John.  It has the early H features; cast iron front 
>wheels, and tall gearshift cage.  It runs fairly well, although I found 
>later that it doesn't have much power.  The transmission is in rough 
>shape.  Refuses to shift, and likes to get stuck in two gears.
>
>I winched both tractors onto the trailer, had lunch, and hit the road.  By 
>then I was sick of rain.  Drove for a couple of hours, then stopped for 
>the night.  The H lost the tin can off its exhaust almost as soon as I got 
>on the freeway, so I was worried about water in the cylinders.  I tried 
>plugging the exhaust with a Mandarin orange, but it blew away too.  I was 
>thrilled to see the sky clearing just in time for a pretty sunset.
>
>Left Santa Nella early this morning and got home about one o'clock.  More 
>rain for the first 100 miles.  Snow in the mountains, none on the 
>roads.  To my surprise, it's been raining here in the desert, 
>too.  Dragged the BO off the trailer with my forklift, and pushed it into 
>my shed.  It may freeze tonight, so I loosened the bottom radiator hose 
>and dumped the water.  Went back up to the trailer and got the H 
>started.  It ran for at least ten minutes, so any water in the cylinders 
>must be long gone now.  Then the next rain storm came in, so I capped the 
>exhaust stack and went back in the house.
>
>I was disappointed to find that my F-350 dually diesel only gets about 8 
>mpg with the trailer behind it.  But hauling 12,000 pounds, I guess that 
>is to be expected.  It gets 16 or 17 when unloaded..
>
>Karl
>
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